Joy in the Moment That Is

Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell, adjunct faculty with IJS, recorded this podcast November 3rd at his Mindfulness Mussar group at his shul – Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living. In it, he talks about the common sense that if we just reach a certain goal, achieve a certain thing in our lives, we’ll be happy, but find when we get there that it’s not the magical panacea we’d hoped for, and that this often results in struggle within ourselves. He uses the teaching of Issac, who pleaded with God for Rebecca to overcome her infertility; but when when his prayers were answered with exactly what he wanted, it was with twins who struggled within the womb and beyond. Jordan answers that to find the joy that is expansive and not predicated on the happening of any given event, we need to practice chesed, practice staying in the moment with what is happening, and practice radical acceptance of just the moment that is.